CH 97

Bai Chunian’s spot was behind the wall of some ruins, and the escape route behind him was guarded closely by snipers. If he even poked his head slightly out of the bunker, 10 rounds of bullets would immediately hit him and explode his head off.

The distance between him and Rimbaud was only 7 or 8 meters, and the merman was carrying a rocket launcher on his shoulder while ridiculing the noobs in front of him. Behind him, 30 or more of his proud juniors charged towards the temple, while on his right, Lu Yan and his pair hid in ambush. The instructor group was flanked by attacks on both sides and outnumbered, putting them in a disadvantageous situation. Should they get a little careless, they would be wiped out by this group of youngsters. 

Rimbaud, with one hand, propped the transparent four-barreled rocket launcher formed from his steel hydration ability next to him, gently raised his chin, and softly tapped the tip of his tail on the ground, “If you kneel down here now…and suck me off…I’ll go easy on you. Let you save face in front of your children.”

Bai Chunian spun his handgun on the palm of his hand, before holstering the gun on his waist, his expression undetectable from under his skeleton decorated balaclava, “Then what if I don’t?”

Rimbaud stroked the exterior of the transparent rocket launcher, smiling relaxedly, “I’ll…defeat you in front of this crowd…and do whatever I please to you. For generations, the queen of the Caribbean Sea…has also needed a ritual…to prove they are weaker than the king…subservient to the king. I’ve never carried this out until now…because…I love you.”

“But this morning…the way the children looked at you with admiration…expectation…and followership…made me feel that you need this ritual. I should treat you roughly…and let everybody else know that you belong to me.”

Bai Chunian put both hands in his trouser pockets, leaning over slightly. Under his skull balaclava, his eyes sparkled black, “What if I’m not weaker than you? Would you not want me then?”

Rimbaud creased his thin eyebrows in a frown, “I’d want you. But you won’t succeed.”

Suddenly, he hoisted the rocket launcher that was standing upright by his side onto his shoulder. Following the stream of the waterfall, he quickly climbed onto a rock about three meters high. Four highly-explosive water bombs were fired toward where Bai Chunian was standing.

The water exploded and the floor was blasted by the impact of the highly explosive water bombs, creating an enormous pit, but Bai Chunian had already vanished. 

Bai Chunian gracefully stood on the broken pillar atop the ruins. He lightly jumped, akin to a cat, flashing through the hail of bullets, and cupped the communication device to his lips to say softly, “My wife has betrayed me, he’s playing for real. Dai Ning and Zheng Yue, withdraw and rejoin me. K, lay down some mines at the location I marked out and ignite some smoke grenades. Lorentz, find the high ground again on your one o’clock. Hong Xie, in a while, when we evacuate to the empty forest south of the temple, send the shortest evacuation route to everybody.”

Han Xingqian was shot and kicked out of the game beforehand, so there was nobody bothering him, and he allowed his condition to recover. He found a place and unscrewed a bottle of mineral water then sat down to rest, chatting into the communicator, “Xiao Bai, why are you running? Come back and fight against Rimbaud. He didn’t show any mercy when he blasted me.”

Bai Chunian stared at the map on the electronic screen on his wrist to plan their next movement and replied to Han Xingqian’s words, “It’s not that I don’t want to fight Han-ge. Emmm… Actually yeah, I just don’t want to fight.”

Hong Xie, “This time, if you make us into fools, Ye will cut contact with you.” 

Bai Chunian, “Don’t panic, it’s just a small issue.”

Dai Ning, “How about using our M2 abilities to retaliate? I can’t accept losing to this group of little bandits.”

Lorentz, “Forcing us to use our M2-grade abilities is also equally shameful ah.”

Bai Chunian, “Nothing will go wrong, trust me.” 

The temple ruins spanned a wide area. The instructors weaved through the crumbling pillars and stone walls, scattering into the empty forest.

The center of the forest surrounded an expansive old Pagan-style altar. On its left and right were two rows of statues of gods in different poses, and the surface of the big marble slab had become mottled and bumpy due to the erosion of sand and wind over time. The main statue’s face was in such poor condition that it was impossible to tell what it originally looked like.

Bi Lanxing had been watching the movements of their targets through binoculars from behind a bulletproof barrier the whole time. He climbed down from the high ground and used the map to analyze where the targets had withdrawn to.

Once the two groups of students had merged, Lu Yan asked Bi Lanxing, “What should we do now? We’re only left with 36 people. We’ve managed to take out Instructor Han, and the rest of the six are definitely instructors. How can possibly we beat them?” 

The instructors at the IOA Alliance Special Training Ground, with the exception of Bai Chunian and Han Xingqian, were all retired special agents. Nobody knew how many emergency tasks they had completed for the Alliance. When facing them, everybody couldn’t help but feel a bit apprehensive.

“Pa’r ralii qbrrlyif.”

Mgbw atf rajga bo atf yjaaif alii cbk, Dl Ojczlcu tjv jikjsr wjlcajlcfv mjiw jcv mifjg pevuwfca. Coafg atlcxlcu obg j ktlif, tf rjlv, “Qf ralii tjnf bcf jrrlrajca rajoo wfwyfg. Elwyjev lr atf xfs ab beg nlmabgs. Ktfrf ofk wbcatr, P tjnf ibcu vlrmbnfgfv atja cb wjaafg atf rlaejalbc, atf lcragemabgr klii cfnfg erf jcsatlcu jybnf atflg olgra-ugjvf vloofgfcaljalbc (A1-ugjvf) jylilas. Ufgtjqr la kjr jc lcragemalbc ogbw atf eqqfg-gjcxr, qfgtjqr la’r gfijafv ab atf vluclas bo atf lcragemabgr, yea kf rtbeiv vfolclafis ajxf jvnjcajuf bo atlr.”

“The opponent’s snipers have always been sniping at me. I guess it’s because Chu-ge could tell I was deploying battle tactics, so he wanted to take out our core of command first. We have more people, and once we lose our core commander, it would definitely be very troublesome.” 

“Chu-ge’s command has never caused any errors. Let’s just respond spontaneously to whatever he commands.”

Bi Lanxing chose some people from every re-organized team, and all of them were basically students from the combat class who were skilled at melee combat.

“Ah Yan, you bring Rimbaud up, as well as this small group. Then drive round to the back of the empty forest. Inside the forest, there is a shrine, and Chu-ge will probably be in there. Surround him. Even if you can’t defeat him, you must stubbornly hold him back.

“Xiao Xun, you follow them too. While they’re delaying Chu-ge, it would be best if you could take the opportunity to snipe him.” 

“En.”

Bi Lanxing instructed Lu Yan, “Remember, you must protect Tan Qing and Tan Yang in the group. Get them to follow Rimbaud closely, they shouldn’t fall behind by even one step.”

Tan Qing and Tan Yang were a pair of AO twins. They looked very similar, especially their light-colored eyes, making them appear gentle and bright.

Lu Yan nodded, taking his team with him, he quickly left. 

Rimbaud yawned and slowly crawled along the pillars of the ruin, following the small group. He hoped that everybody would be able to keep up. That would make it convenient for him to declare sovereignty over Bai Chunian when he knocked him down.

Xiao Xun was on high ground. He was carrying a pair of sniper guns on his back, moving forward separately from them.

Bi Lanxing continued to make arrangements for the remaining half of the students.

The sky was gradually darkening, and there would occasionally be wolf howls from the empty forest. Bai Chunian removed his balaclava and sat down under the large marble statue, leaning against it and continuing to give instructions to the communicator. 

Lorentz and Dai Ning suddenly began to urgently plead for help.

Dai Ning’s melee combat ability stood out amongst all the instructors, and Lorentz had a long-standing reputation as an eagle-eyed sniper. In the face of real enemies, they would not make any mistakes, not to mention against students.

However, Bi Lanxing was different. He understood the abilities of every instructor like the back of his hand and therefore, he purposely opened the line of fire, letting the sniper class students contain Dai Ning from a distance, while the remaining combat class students would sneak up close to Lorentz and charge at him forcefully. Bi Lanxing himself would lead some people to completely cut the two instructors off from each other.

In the process of interacting with this youngster, Bai Chunian discovered that his observational skills and patience were way ahead of those of his peers. His attack style was a bit reckless indeed, and one could tell that he knew that these instructors would not use their full strength to resist, and also knew that none of his own team members would really be killed. He was really skilled at using existing information to put battle tactics into place. Though his thinking was still in an overly optimistic phase, however, his planning talent and battle analysis were evident. If he continued like this, it would not take long before he could be brought out to experience a real battle where blood would be shed. 

“K, cast your replacement within the area I’ve marked out.” Bai Chunian said.

Technical instructor K’s glands were similar to that of reptiles and were rare programmable glands. His glands were known as ‘Balances’ and his J1 ability was called ‘Equal Exchange,’ able to briefly switch energy waves and attributes between two spaces or two different times.

When Instructor K was using his ability, at the same time, a circular light ring composed of binary numbers appeared below the feet of Dai Ning and Lorentz. An unknown program quickly flowed across the circle, and the two spaces were instantly reversed and exchanged. Dai Ning and Lorentz swapped places.

Now, the situation was reversed, the two instructors who had been indiscriminately attacked continually at their weak points by the students were both injured, but after the swap, Dai Ning was faced with a group of combat class students, while Lorentz began to counter-snipe the sniper class students. The number of students alive thus began to sharply dwindle. 

Dai Ning had way more than enough skill to defeat these still-budding students, but he discovered that the number of students was not right and whispered to Bai Chunian, “Chu-ge, not all the combat class students are here. Excluding those who have already been eliminated, there should be around six people who aren’t here with me.”

Bai Chunian lazily leaned on the base of the statue, his wrists resting on his knees, “No problem. We’ll sacrifice Old K first.”

Instructor K, “?”

Bi Lanxing had already set aside a team of commandos to wait for Instructor K to use his differentiation ability and reveal his location. The ability of ‘Equal Exchange’ could only be used within a certain range, and if he wanted to keep Dai Ning and Lorentz switched, Instructor K had no other choice but to show his face. 

His real target was Instructor K. K could manipulate the computer to set up traps in the field at will. To their commandos, this was a huge and uncontrollable obstacle, and they needed to take him out first.

Bai Chunian said, “You two try to kill as many of those little ants as possible, no need to worry about K. K is their attack target this time. If you return to assist him, you’ll fall into their trap.”

As expected, Instructor K was killed by their collective firepower, and the indicator light on his bulletproof suit turned red, indicating that he had been killed.

However, the students still could not relax as they had sacrificed more than ten people just to kill one instructor. 

Bi Lanxing furrowed his brows, “They didn’t return to provide assistance. Chu-ge has seen through our tactics.”

Fortunately, when Lu Yan left, he had given him one of the team’s communicator devices. Bi Lanxing changed the plan in the nick of time and had Lu Yan and Xiao Xun abandon their attack on Bai Chunian. Instead, he gave the task of slowing down Bai Chunian to Rimbaud and the other two students.

Now there were only 5 instructors and 17 students left on the battlefield.

Bai Chunian, “Bi Lanxing is using a reckless self-destructive style, banking on the fact that as long as they have one person standing, they will be the winners. But I can understand him. These guys have never fought a real battle, and they still don’t know yet how valuable life is.” 

Hong Xie, “When we go back I have to criticise him. They aren’t even terrorists, what are they doing?”

Bai Chunian, “No need, the rules are as such. Utilizing the rules is also a form of cleverness. Some things that he should understand, and after a while I’ll get him to understand them. But now, if we don’t sacrifice three of us, it will really be difficult to defeat them.”

Instructor Zheng Yue, “? Which three?”

Bai Chunian, “You ya.” 

Through the communicator device came a distressing scream from Zheng Yue.

Lu Yan and Xiao Xun who were called back halfway did not immediately return to their original position and instead followed Bi Lanxing’s instructions to launch a sneak attack on Zheng Yue.

Zheng Yue himself was already scrappily fighting with five or six students. Circling around the bunker, he had just headshot two people. Lu Yan then jumped out from a black hole that appeared out of nowhere. The Lop-eared Rabbit’s J1 differentiation ability ‘Cunning Rabbit’s Cave’ could be activated instantaneously many times over a short period of time. Moreover, it was silent and was the most suitable for a sneak attack from the back.

Zheng Yue, after being on the receiving end of the sneak attack, immediately retreated behind the next bunker, but ten or so meters away, the black barrel of a sniper gun was aimed precisely at him. He felt that he might as well just directly move closer to the sniper and prepare to claim the high ground and then counter-snipe. Unexpectedly, Xiao Xun suddenly leaped out from behind the bunker while hugging the sniper gun. He landed and did a forward roll, dodged the bullets from the submachine gun, and from a distance of not even two meters, with the gun pressed against his face, he shot Zheng Yue in the head. 

Bai Chunian moved his earpiece further from his ear. This was because Zheng-ge was really too pitiful, he only heard Zheng Yue cry out, “Fuck, this youngster sniped while charging AHH!” before the situation turned into immediate death.

4 instructors and 15 students were left on the battlefield. The battle was intense and fierce, and it was hard to say what the outcome would be.

Bai Chunian said, “The target’s been exposed. Hong Xie, Lorentz, get ready.”

When Lu Yan landed on the ground from the Rabbit’s Cave, an enormous wave of energy suddenly wrapped around his shoulders. Instructor Hong Xie had been hiding there for a long time, and his hands were like strong and hard iron pincers, whereas Lu Yan relied on his agile dodging in close combat. Once he was caught, it would be very difficult for Lu Yan to escape as he did not have enough strength. 

He felt as though he had been cut into two halves while alive. All the bones in his body were swollen and extremely painful. He passed out alive and entered into a state of death.

Meanwhile, Xiao Xun was also shot in the head by Lorentz when he jumped out of the bunker to kill Zheng Yue.

“Hong Xie will make the remaining arrangements.” Bai Chunian said to them, “I’m up next.”

He raised his head. The dilapidated dome of the temple had a big hole in it from the erosion of wind and rain over the years. The sky was pitch black, a full moon hanging over the ruins. Rimbaud sat by the carved pillars of the dome, his fishtail lightly shimmering. The moonlight fell on his pale lashes and eyes, giving off a dangerous aura of beauty. 

The intense pounding in his heart made Bai Chunian lose his focus.

Rimbaud lifted his hand and threw him a gun and a dagger, his gaze doting, yet arrogant.

However, Bai Chunian did not pick them up. He took out the pistol on his waist and threw it at his feet, kicking it away, he spread open his hands, “Just like this.”

Rimbaud narrowed his eyes, “You’re very confident. But I’m being serious.” 

Bai Chunian squatted on the edge of the altar. With a light smile, he beckoned him over with hooking gestures.

Rimbaud used one hand to prop up his body and jumped down, firing five shots at Bai Chunian with the revolver in his other hand.

Bai Chunian’s body was so fast that phantoms of his movements could be seen. He predicted the trajectory of the bullet and effortlessly avoided it. He traversed the ruins that separated the two of them and leaped down from high up to grab Rimbaud’s wrist. He used his Bone Armor ability on the tip of his fingers and pressed down on his wrist. Rimbaud’s nerves became numb and his fingers momentarily loosened, dropping the revolver into Bai Chunian’s palm.

Rimbaud hit the alpha’s chest hard with his elbow, relying on his slippery fishtail to slip out of Bai Chunian’s arms. He grabbed a broken stone pillar, using the strength of both arms to climb back to the dome. 

Bai Chunian also threw the revolver on the floor, gazing at him with a light smile, “This empty forest only has gravel and weeds. Come down, I’ll give you a hug. Don’t fuss anymore.”

“Pay attention.” Rimbaud’s pupils thinned into lines, and his translucent fish tail dazzled with electric light.

The delay had given him time to completely charge up with electricity. Bai Chunian immediately left his original spot but still got his arm scorched by the dense sparks.

Dark clouds covered the moon, and the dense clouds pressed down towards the temple from the sky. Lightning jumped between the clouds and dense lightning slashed down. Bai Chunian leaped and dodged several bolts of lightning. 

Rimbaud’s J1 differentiation ability, Downburst, could control the positrons and electrons within the clouds inside his range at will. Once enough dark clouds gathered, it would start to rain. And once there were more water sources, Rimbaud would be at an exponential advantage.

Bai Chunian would not give him this chance. He lightly stepped on a jagged wall, flipped up onto the dome roof, grabbed the scruff of Rimbaud’s neck, and pulled him down. The dome cut Rimbaud off from the clouds, and the dark clouds slowly dissipated.

The news came through the communicator. Hong Xie said they had cleared the battlefield, and two students were still left in hiding. They had yet to find them.

Rimbaud originally was held in Bai Chunian’s embrace. Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows and asked, “Would you like to know where the last two people are?” 

Bai Chunian’s face stiffened slightly.

All of a sudden, a stream of water flowed into Rimbaud’s hand, forming a steel-hydrated transparent bazooka. A high-explosive water bomb blasted away Bai Chunian, who was suppressing his body.

Bai Chunian’s back slammed into the mottled walls of the ruin. He flipped and rolled over, dodging Rimbaud’s next water bomb. Even though the water bomb itself would not cause any damage, the force it contained was enough to kill on impact. Once he was killed, Rimbaud would have no trouble defeating the remaining three instructors.

“I know where those two little brats are.” Bai Chunian dodged a water bomb. Out of the blue, he took out a detonator remote from his waist and pressed the detonation button before Rimbaud could react. 

A series of explosions sounded outside the ruins. After the violent explosions, the monitoring station automatically issued a broadcast, “All remaining students have been killed, and the assessment is over. Students, please gather as instructed by the instructors.”

The last two students were killed by the bombs that Instructor K had planted around the ruins in advance. At the same time, the steel-hydrated bazooka in Rimbaud’s hand disappeared.

“Tan Qing and Tan Yang have always been following you ba. That’s why you had the confidence to challenge me in the forest.”

One of the twins had hydrogen-producing glands, and the other had oxygen-producing glands. Though they did not have rare twin glands like that of the He brothers, they had the ability to combine attacks and synthesize anything that was composed only of hydrogen and oxygen, including water. 

“However, on land, you are still a little weak. This is nothing.” Bai Chunian grabbed Rimbaud’s neck from behind, pressing him against the altar. With his left hand, he put both of Rimbaud’s hands behind his back and used his armored fingernails to lightly jam his knuckles, preventing him from moving.

Rimbaud was in pain and struggled to raise his head.

Almost all of the students who had died had gathered and were waiting in line for the instructor to call their names. They did not expect that just past the low walls of the ruin, they would see Bai Chunian pressing Rimbaud against the statue of the main god, looking at the merman under him with a posture that exuded arrogance and power.

Rimbaud, whose hands were behind his back, gritted his teeth and fiercely glared at him, “You’ve grown up, you, your strength has grown.” 

“That’s right.” Bai Chunian laughed, lowly whispering by Rimbaud’s ear, “If you want to prove to everybody that I belong to you, you don’t necessarily have to defeat me.”

He lifted Rimbaud’s face and kissed him in front of all the students, licking his sharp teeth and cold tongue with the tip of his tongue.

“This way is also fine.”